Online-Card - Tartu
Directly in front of Tartu town hall two young students embrace each other and kiss passionately. This statue in the form of a fountain has stood in town hall square since 1998 and quickly became a focal point of Tartu – the couple symbolize at the same time two important aspects of the town: one in five of the approximately 100.000 citizens studies at one of the 16 university faculties and a third of the population is under 30 years old.
The second largest city of Estonia is known as interlectual capital and the cradle of Estonian culture. King Gustavus II Adolphus of Sweden founded the first university in 1632. The first Estonian song festival was held here in 1869 and one year later the national theatre was founded. The national museum was opened in Tartu in 1909 – close by is the Student Union whose colours were the model for the blue-black-and-white national flag.
Around 600 A.D., Estonians establish a fort on today`s toome hill – Tarbatu. The conquest of this fortress by the Kiev prince Jaroslaw the Wise in the year 1030 was mentioned in Russian chronicles and is considered as the year of the foundation of the city of Tartu. After the entry to the Hanseatic League around 1280 the city develops to an important trading post along the commercial route to Novgorod. Over the following centuries Tartu falls under Polish, Swedish, German and Russian rule. At the end of the Nordic War in 1721 a longer, unimpaired phase of prosperity begins. The Russian Empress Katharina II. gives the order to rebuild the city in the second half of the 18th century. In 1802 the university is reopened. An observatory of world renown importance, the university clinics, the library and the botanical garden make Tartu at the beginning of the 19th century to an important centre of science of the Russian empire.
Apart from the research German student life flourishes by the river Emajõgi and the city recives the nickname “Emajõgi-Athens“. Gradually Tartu becomes the centre of Esonian scientific and social life.
200 years later, nothing much has changed despite the destructions by fires and damage in war. Today, there is a versatile culture theaters, cafes, galleries and museums, provide a relaxed atmosphere in the narrow streets of the old town centre.
In between the old houses stands the landmark of Tartu: The gothic St. John’s Church with over 1,000 terrakotta figures. They are now being restored and the work will be finished in June 2005, when the 25th Hanseatic Day celebration will take place in Tartu. Most of the houses of the old town are reconditioned and stand alongside with modern offices and houses made of glass and steel – Tartu is a growing city. It`s modern infrastructure and position in the centre of Estonia not far from the Russian border offer outstanding conditions for business. Traditionally strongly represented are enterprises of the food and of electronics industries.
Tartu is leading in the development of the geen cell. Since the early 19th Century it has played a major roll in the development of mediceine and biotechnology. It has led in the field of Information Technology. All of them are young and innovative businesses – This is symbolized by the statue of the two lovers in front of the town hall.
